Two Weeks in the Greek Islands
Counter to our whirlwind sightseeing trip to Athens, the following two weeks would be focused on kicking back and relaxing. We would be island hopping! As we started planning this leg of the trip, we learned that despite its popularity and the close proximity of the islands, island hopping is not cheap. Ferry tickets were nearly $100 per person, and sometimes ferry rides were prohibitively long. Still, we were determined to make it happen and now (reporting from the other side) I can say it was well worth it.
We chose to start on the largest of the Greek islands, Crete. We had heard that the culture and sights in Crete were more representative of true Greek life than what we’d seen in the big city of Athens. We picked Chania as our home base for the first 5 nights, but learned that the only ferry to Santorini leaves from Heraklion so we spent our final 2 nights there.
Crete is home to Europe’s first advanced civilization, the Minoans. Crete and Chania have so much history, and you can see it in the architecture which has all kinds of influences (Byzantine, Ottoman, Venetian, Ancient Greek). The town hub is the Venetian Harbor so that’s where we stayed at Mirabile Luxury Suites, a newer hotel on the edge of the harbor area. I rarely call out where we stayed, but we LOVED it there. Our room had a wraparound balcony and the hospitality was top notch, with the receptionists giving us great suggestions all week.
As I describe our time in the islands, it may not be totally linear because we really were so relaxed that there were some days we did very little. But I’ll do my best to recap the unique experiences we had and things I recommend doing if you ever go! My first priority when we got to Crete was to hit a beach. There are a number of iconic beaches on Crete, but to take it easy on day 2 we decided to hit one just 15-20 minute drive from our hotel, Iguana Beach.
Back in Chania that evening we grabbed an appertivo on the waterfront and realized we were in for an epic sunset. We found a restaurant to have dinner and watch from and enjoyed sea bass and steak as we took in the most incredible orange sunset over the harbor.
My priority being beaches and relaxation, we headed out for Balos Beach the next day. There are boats that can take you to Balos Lagoon but since we had the rental car we opted to drive there ourselves. I understand now why many people take the boat. The last 10km of the drive was unpaved along a mountainside, our tiny rental car going 10kmph in a parade of other tiny rental cars trying to avoid popping a tire. In the end, we made it, but then had a 20 minute downhill hike (mentally noting that we would have to climb back out at the end of the day). All said, it was worth it, but if you had any reservations about the drive or hike then just take the boat.
We were rewarded for our efforts with the most beautiful beach with shallow warm water and plenty of beach chairs and umbrellas. There is a little snack shack down there so you can easily spend a whole day just kicking back in the sun. The only other place I’ve experienced this kind of shallow, warm water, white-sand beach was in the Bahamas when I was 19, and I’ve dreamt of it ever since, so this was really special to me.
After retracing our route to get out of Balos, we stopped at a restaurant recommended by our hotel, Gramvousa Restaurant. We were seated and immediately given a clear bottle of something they make in-house called Raki. It’s a spirit made from grapes and its traditional in Crete to offer it to your guests. The meal was amazing and at the end we were invited to their fruit bar for some dessert. Such an amazing introduction to Cretean hospitality!
Hanging around Chania the next day, we checked out a street food festival which was cute, with live music and booths from different restaurants in town. Chilling on our balcony afterwards we called Marcus’s sister to check in and found out that our niece had been born! We had a great night of celebrating with raki, cocktails and a cigar.
Finally, to close out our time on the west side, we drove out to Elafonisi Beach aka the Pink Sand Beach. It was about an hour and a half drive through the mountains but it was beautiful and luckily once we arrived there was no hike to get to the beach. We headed for the beach chairs and paid for a set and tried to get comfortable but the wind was INSANE. Kitesurfers were loving it but I was having a bad time. I walked around though the warm shallow water (barely above your knees in the deep parts) and discovered a protected cove! I went back for Marcus and we abandoned our loungers for the warm sands of the cove. From there on out we had a great time and I’m glad we moved. There was some pink sand but don’t expect the whole place to be pink. Still cool though!
On the way back, we went off the beaten path to check out a restaurant that a woman working at an art gallery told us about. Kapileio Tavern is a cute family-owned spot tucked back in the olive and fruit orchards outside of Chania. The food was cheap, the portions huge, and it felt like a really authentic place.
Our short layover in Heraklion wasn’t really a time we used for exploring. To be honest, I was still not feeling great from Athens even after 5 days of R&R. We got food, walked around the shops, and went bowling. I have some guilt about not exploring more in a place I may never get another chance to see, but I’ve learned that I have to listen to my body and prioritize my health even when there is a ton of cool stuff to discover. And we had Santorini the next day, so I REALLY wanted to be 100%.
Luckily our hotel was a 5 minute walk to the ferry port, which made our 8am ferry departure a bit easier. The ferry was packed to the gills and they had the loading and unloading down to a science. It all happens very fast. This ferry went from Crete to Santorini and then on to Ios, Mykonos and Paros. As we approached Santorini we went out on to the deck to catch a glimpse of the caldera but we were immersed in a dense and spooky fog. Luckily once we disembarked it had dissipated, revealing the beautiful white towns of Santorini!
At the port you can easily hop onto a bus for 2 Euro that will take you up to the towns. It seems like the main town is Fira, which has a big bus depot and from which you can get to any of the other cities. Our hotel was just a 10-minute walk from there so we hoofed it with our bags to the Aerino Villa in Firostefani (the next town up). We were blown away when we checked in. Our host was so kind, giving us a lay of the land and some recommendations, but as soon as she left we just gaped at the view from our window.
Much of the research I had done about Santorini would keep talking about “best places to catch the sunset” as if its the whole purpose of going there and its a bit of a trial to get a good spot, either at a restaurant or a lookout point. We would not need to worry about that. We enjoyed a perfect view of the sunset from the comfort of our hotel each night.
The next two days would be intensely windy and relatively chilly (compared to day 1) so we picked a couple of wineries to do some wine tasting at. The first, Anhydrous, had a great flight of Greek wines mostly made from Santorini grapes. The second, Vassaltis, was a bit more modern and had some really delicious white wines and indoor seating (which we appreciated in the wind). Both wineries offered little food pairings with the wines which was a really nice touch! We only wish we could have gotten some wines to bring home!
Aside from wine tastings and chasing sunsets, we also enjoyed just walking around. We explored in Fira, window-shopping, and walked up to Imerovigli for some different views. We did a hike out to Skaros Rock which was really cool and gave a new perspective of the island. One night there was a thunderstorm in the distance so we watched the lightening from our room. On our final night, it was a Saturday night, so we went out to find the nightlife and there were a lot of really busy bars and clubs in Fira.
Something surprising in Santorini (I don’t know why my expectations were low here) was the food. We had some really great dinners on the island. The first night we went to the restaurant owned by our hotelier’s parents, Taverna Romantica. It was a really authentic old family joint where we had a really huge meze platter (great for getting to try a variety of things), a pastry-wrapped cheese thing with honey (many variations of this in Greece!) and grilled octopus. Octopus is not my thing but when you’re on an island, it’s probably as good as its ever going to get and I was proud of myself for being brave.
We had sushi at Ginger in Firostefani and WOW it was really good. We ordered gyoza, chicken katsu curry, and 2 special rolls and the server said “that’s exactly what I would order,” which is always a good sign. Our last evening we went to another family joint, Aktaion, which has been operating there for 100 years and had a celebratory tasting menu which was great. I had the seafood tasting menu (no octopus, yay) and Marcus had a meat tasting menu and everything was good! We got Italian food at Cacio e Pepe on our last night where we were impressed by their carbonara, truffle ravioli and tiramisu.
And of course, the breakfast at Aerino Villa. Each morning they would bring us a massive tray of breakfast items, pastries, juice, tea, coffee, and bread in the room. As a breakfast lover, this was dreamy. On our last morning, we enjoyed one last breakfast in our room and said our goodbyes to the staff. We headed down to the ferry port and caught a boat to Naxos.
When we arrived, the boat unloaded right by the Temple of Apollo, so we took a short walk to check it out. It’s the ruins of an ancient temple which was built (but unfinished) in 530 BC. Seeing these things that have existed for thousands of years still standing and able to be explored and appreciated is truly incredible. We took a bus to Plaka beach, just about 20 minutes away from Naxos town, where we checked into our hotel, Dream on Plaka.
As soon as we arrived, we realized we would not be seeing much of Naxos. The room was beautiful and had a balcony looking out to the beach, which was just 50 meters (or less) away. On the beach, the hotel provided lounges which were built like canopy beds and… yeah, game over. We would not see any of Naxos beyond the hotel.
We spent all three days there lounging, dipping into the water to cool off, and then returning to our loungers. We read books, ate popsicles, played backgammon, and worked on our tan. Sorry Naxos, we know there is more to see in the birthplace of Zeus, but Plaka Beach was just too nice. We didn’t even have to go far to eat. We went to a few different restaurants all within walking distance of the hotel.
After 3 days on Naxos and 2 weeks total in the islands, our Greek Island tour had come to an end. It took all that time to recover from Athens, to be honest, but we were ready to head to Turkey and take on the sights of Istanbul. We went to the tiniest airport ever, a single-room operation five minutes from the hotel, and connected through Athens to Istanbul. I can definitely see us coming back to Greece, especially the islands. You can truly relax and be present, surrounded by beauty, in the Cyclades.
